Bridge of Reason

  The Watch Tower Society deny the deity, even the personhood of the Holy Spirit. They refer to him as ‘holy spirit,’ in all lower case letters, and often without the essential determiner ‘the’ that indicates personhood. ‘ The correct identification of the holy spirit must fit the scriptures that refer to that spirit ( note they don’t write ‘him’). With this viewpoint, it is logical to conclude that the holy spirit is the active force of God. It is not a person but is a powerful force that God causes to emanate from himself to accomplish his holy will.’ Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985, p.381 I t is important we have a correct understanding of the Holy Spirit. Only those who confess ‘Jesus as Lord’ are saved (Romans 10:9), and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ and mean it except by the Holy Spirit(1 Corinthians 12:3). Is the Holy Spirit a Person? There are three things that identify personhood: Intellect : The faculty of reasoning, objective understanding Will : The ability t...

  In the official church manuals of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the personhood and the purpose of the Holy Ghost is described this way: The Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead (see 1 John 5:7; D&C 20:28). He is a “personage of Spirit” (D&C 130:22). He can be in only one place at a time, but His influence can be everywhere at the same time (Gospel Principles, 2009, p. 32). The Holy Ghost is the third member of the Godhead. He is a personage of spirit, without a body of flesh and bones (see D&C 130:22). He is often referred to as the Spirit, Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord, or the comforter (True to the Faith: A Gospel Reference, 2004, pp. 81-82). We shouldn’t be surprised that in their description, we only find one reference from the Bible as to the personhood and purpose of the Holy Spirit. Much of Mormon doctrine does not arise from the Bible but rather latter-day revelation allegedly given to Joseph Smith. The one Bible ve...

  Have you had Mormon Missionaries bear their testimony to you? When backed into a corner, when feeling that you are being contentious, these young Mormons will say: ‘I bear you my testimony that I know the Book of Mormon is true, I know that Joseph Smith is a true Prophet of God and I know that the Church is the only true church.’ They have, they claim, the witness of the Spirit that what they believe is true. This, in a nutshell, is Mormonism. They believe all they believe because of this so-called ‘witness of the Spirit’. How does that work? The desire of the Mormon Missionary is for you and me to also experience the ‘witness of the Spirit’ as they do, but what do they mean? They will point an interested person to a passage in the Book of Mormon – Moroni 10:3-5: Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of ...

In Reasoning from the Scripture s p.409 the question is asked: 'Does the Bible teach that none of those who are said to be included in the Trinity is greater or less than another, that all are equal, that all are almighty?' The Watch Tower brings a role call of familiar proof texts, and we may address them in future, but the one I want to look at is: 'Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever says a word against the Son of Man ill be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come'  Mt.12:31,32 'If the Holy Spirit were a person and were God, ’ they insist, ‘this text would flatly contradict the Trinity doctrine, because it would mean that in some way the Holy Spirit was greater than the Son. Instead, what Jesus said shows that the Father, to whom the 'Spirit' belonged, is greater than Jesus, the Son of man.' ...

In their book Reasoning From the Scriptures, 1989, pp 406,407, the Watchtower address the personhood of the Holy Spirit: 'Some individual texts that refer to the holy spirit (“Holy Ghost,” KJ) might seem to indicate personality. For example, the holy spirit is referred to as a helper (Greek, pa·raʹkle·tos; “Comforter,” KJ; “Advocate,” JB, NE) that ‘teaches,’ ‘bears witness,’ ‘speaks’ and ‘hears.’ (John 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26; 16:13) But other texts say that people were “filled” with holy spirit, that some were ‘baptized’ with it or “anointed” with it. (Luke 1:41; Matt. 3:11; Acts 10:38) These latter references to holy spirit definitely do not fit a person. To understand what the Bible as a whole teaches, all these texts must be considered. What is the reasonable conclusion? That the first texts cited here employ a figure of speech personifying God’s holy spirit, his active force, as the Bible also personifies wisdom, sin, death, water, and blood. (See also pages 380, 381, under the...

  May the Force be with You The Watchtower Society defines the Holy Spirit in the following way: The invisible energizing force that God puts into action to accomplish his will. It is holy because it comes from Jehovah, who is clean and righteous to the highest degree, and because it is God’s means to accomplish what is holy. ​— Lu 1:35; Ac 1:8 . [1] With this definition in mind, it is easy to see why, in all their literature, the Watchtower Society always write holy spirit in the lower case. They believe and teach that the Holy Spirit is an ‘it’, rather than a ‘who’. Active Force Jehovah’s Witnesses refer to the Holy Spirit as God’s ‘active force’ and, as can be seen from the quote above, they believe that ‘it’ is an energizing force which flows from Jehovah to accomplish his will. Their understanding of the Holy Spirit is a far cry from that believed upon and taught by historic Christianity. Christians believe that the Holy Spirit is not just a force, but rather a personal being...

  Now, I had a fight with a missionary companion once because he said that Latter-day Saints are the only ones who can feel the Spirit. And I said, “nu-uh”, and he said, “uh-huh”, and I said, “nu-uh”, and he said, “uh-huh”, and I said, “nu-uh”, and that’s how missionaries fight. And I said, “Look, if they can’t feel the Spirit, what do they feel on Christmas Eve when they’re singing Silent Night, and the little kids are all dressed in bathrobes doing the manger scene? What do they feel?” He says, “The spirit of the devil”. I said, “No! You can’t feel the spirit of the devil when little kids are dressed in bathrobes! You can’t feel the little spirit of the devil when they’re singing ‘Silent Night’!” I really enjoy watching nature programmes. God’s creation is amazing. Recently, my son invited me to see an event called Planet Earth II Live. It was amazing. Along with a couple of thousand people, we watched clips from Planet Earth II on a massive screen and there, to play alongsid...